Dance
by CovertThePenguin
Summary: The Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894.


Russia had never felt this betrayed.

He had always been a feared nation, he should not had been reduced to this.

It was not like he wanted to be feared, no. He just wanted to have friends, even if he knew Germany, Austria and Hungary would not trust him. Especially the happily married couple, they had had disputes over the Balkans for a long time.

Friends, to have friends.

And now Germany had outright rejected him. For the third time. The first time was the Dual Alliance between the German and the husband and wife, against him, which he didn't know of until now. And then it was the Triple Alliance. And now, the utter failure of the Reinsurance Treaty.

Outright rejected him with a simple word.

"Nein." Germany had said in his language as Russia's heart started to break.

"The third time, Germany. I will have you know that I won't stand by you anymore." Russia had bargained, wanting to fix their relationship before it deteriorated to the point that even he couldn't deceive himself.

"Leider, nein, Russland." The blues eyed nation had spoken stoically, standing up from his seat and closing the door, leaving nothing but emptiness in the room as winds of fury started to swirl in the Russian's heart.

"Хорошо. Is this how you want to play, Germany?" Russia's smile had reappeared on his face, an edge of bitterness present in contrast to his original genuine one. "Хорошо."

Ambling about in the lonely meeting place where the nations of Dreikaiserbund had met up once, Russia strolled mindlessly into the ballroom, remembering his people who danced merrily, and Germany's, and Austria-Hungary's. Dancing was such a beautiful art, he thought. He had always admired the ballet, Cossack dancers as they danced, and had always participated in the dancing.

What was most beautiful was that the Magyars, Germans and Russians were getting along, like one big happy family. Russia wanted a family.

Russia wanted a family.

And so he closed his eyes and imagined everyone all those years ago, dancing and twirling, eyes twinkling, arms linking, hair flowing. Like one big happy family.

Not before long, he started spinning in the ballroom, dancing with ghosts of his past in bliss in his arms, air embracing his waist and back as he moved past a silently admiring audience around him, beaming. It didn't matter that Germany had rejected his idea of being allies, no. It didn't matter that Austria-Hungary hated him with all their might, no. He had memories to accompany him as he glided gracefully across the sparkling floor of them, though now coated by a layer of dust, having been out of use since 1873.

Yes, dancing contentedly. Alone.

As streams of tears started to slide down his violet eyes.

So utterly alone.

Fate was more beautiful than dancing on this day, that was what Russia failed to notice in the beginning.

He was not alone.

Fate allowed a man to walk into the room, also in his own thoughts. How he carried himself with such poise, no one ever really knew, but he took pride in it. He was the most beautiful of them all.

With the tricolours of his flag on his clothing, he walked dejectedly into the room, having the same mindset as the Russian. When he saw the fearsome, mighty, invincible Russia, his heart stopped, fear arising. Russia was going to harm him, this he knew.

But... Was he crying?

The personification would have guffawed decades ago at the sight of this, but he felt nothing but compassion and sympathy, blue eyes following the blonde as he sat at the corner and wept.

The powerful Russia sobbing.

His heart led him to the taller man's side, kneeling down and extending a hand meekly. Slowly, Russia looked up to the brilliant ocean blue eyes.

"Would you like to dance, monsieur?" France offered with a smile.

Russia looked at him, a look of disbelief on his tear stained face as he stifled his sniffs. "Would it be okay?"

"Oui, of course. A friendly dance between nations should be compulsory for every meeting, non? Dancing is such an art." The Frenchman grinned playfully.

Russia took his hand.

And they danced together.

* * *

 **Author's note, and an extra history lesson:**

Hello, and thank you for choosing this one-shot to read. As you can see in the summary, this is inspired by the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894. Russia around that time was played around by the what was to be called the Central Powers.

Originally, Otto Von Bismarck launched a plan (the Alliance System) to ensure German hegemony in Europe and to prevent a two front war by France (who was bitter about losing the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and wanted revenge) and Austria-Hungary (who was also bitter because they lost the Seven Weeks War to Prussia, generally referred to as Germany as the German states finally unified). He didn't want a nightmare coalition, so he allied with Austria-Hungary and Russia, forming an alliance called Dreikaiserbund (Three-Emperors-League) in 1873, successfully isolating France. Bismarck, or Germany, didn't trust Russia too much, so he made a secret alliance with Austria-Hungary, the Dual Alliance of 1879 against Russia. Secret, that meant Russia didn't know, and that was the first drop by Germany.

The second drop was when the Triple Alliance in 1882 was formed, with the original two allied powers, and with an addition of Italy. Italy quarrelled with France over territory in Africa and lost, and so Germany made use of this and allied with him. Triple Alliance, that meant Russia was not involved again.

In 1881, a Revival of Dreikaiserbund actually happened to try to keep Russia in place, and to keep him from joining France. Germany needed to make sure that he isolated France. Russia's stance was already starting to sway.

The third drop was the Reinsurance Treaty of 1887. Germany again, needed to make sure that Russia didn't leave him. Bismarck was the one who suggested this, but when Kaiser William II became Kaiser, he dropped Bismarck, and also Russia outright. This finally drew Russia to the brink.

When France and Russia found each other, they were so happy. France was isolated for so long, and he had so much money to spend, he just lacked people. Vice versa for Russia. And so the Franco-Russian Alliance of 1894 was formed against the Triple Alliance.

And that's it for our history lesson. Thank you for reading again.

(It can be a friendship fic or a pairing fic, depending on how you see it, though my intention was the former)


End file.
